New Google Analytics Speed Suggestions Report Designed To Help Improve Page Load Times

Google Analytics has added a new report designed to help website owners improve page load times. The new Speed Suggestions Report is part of Google’s website performance reports, and displays the average page load time for the most visited pages on a website.

Integrating data from the new report, Google Analytics uses its PageSpeed Insights tool to offer tips on improving page load time speeds. “Not only can you measure and visualize the performance of your website,” claims Google, “But you can now also speed up the slowest pages with concrete and actionable suggestions.”

The PageSpeed Insight tool goes a step further than the Page Timings report – a tool used to identify a site’s slowest pages – by assigning web page “speed scores” based on a page’s room for improvement. According to Google Analytics, “The closer the score is to 100, the more optimized the page is for speed.”

In the report, you can click through a suggestions link to see a page with all of the suggestions sorted by their impact on site speed. Example suggestions include reducing the amount of content that  needs to load before your users can interact with the page, minifying JavaScript, and reducing redirects.

Google notes its PageSpeed Insights Tool may not be able to evaluate a page if the site owner rewrites the site’s URLs before displaying the URL in analytics or if the page requires a login.